Abstract:
Assessment of genetic variability and the heritability of traits concern in the breeding program of Okara are important
for the selection. Hence a study was carried out at Grain Legumes & Oil Crops Research & Development Centre
(GLORDC), Angunakolapelessa during 2012 Yala season and the objectives were to study the genetic variability of
quantitative characters in Okra to quantify broad-sense heritability for yield, and yield associated traits and other
agronomic traits. F2 populations of cross -1 (Acc 00843 X MI 5) and cross-2 (ANK 00007 X Haritha ) were evaluated
for plant characters such as days to first flowering (DF), plant height (PH), total fruit yield per plant (TY), average fruit
weight (AW), total number of fruits per plant (TNF) and fruit characters such as fruit length (FL), fruit width (FW) and
number of ridges per fruit (NR). Their parental plants were also planted in GLORDC following single plant
randomization method. In these crosses, Acc 00843 and ANK 007 were used as female parents and Haritha and MI 5
were used as male parents. Mean performance of parents and their F2 in each cross, phenotypic, environmental and
genetic variances present in each trait of F2 populations and comparisons of broad sense heritability in the traits of F2
populations were evaluated. Significant parental differences were observed for NR in cross 1 that of TNF, TY and FW in
cross 2. From the mean performance analysis, important economical traits such as TNF, TY showed significant
differences when compared F2 population means with their better parent in cross 1. Also cross 1 expressed relatively
higher broad sense heritability values for the traits of TNF and TY. While assuming that there was no environmental
variation those traits could be considered for selecting genotypes with further advancement. Therefore Cross 1 can be
considered as highly potential cross that can be continued for selecting new recombinant inbred lines based on mean
and heritability analysis of the study.
